Thank you so much! We appreciate all your donations, big and small, which poured in during 2014. You gave our charity over £10,000 in response to our appeal, over ten times more than in 2013! This meant we did not need to dip into our dwindling reserves to keep the database and website going and free of charge for another year. In 2015 we will continue to depend on your donations, so please do keep them coming.
More information on our financial position >>>

By donating to PFAF, you can help support and expand our activitiesPlant Suppliers:
Click here for a
List

Agastache foeniculum - (Pursh.)Kuntze.

Common Name

Anise Hyssop, Blue giant hyssop

Family

Lamiaceae or Labiatae

Synonyms

A. anethiodorum. (Nutt.)Britt.

Known Hazards

None known

Habitats

Dry thickets, fields and waste ground[43] on prairies and plains[235].

Range

Western N. America - Ontario to Washington, south to Colorado.

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Agastache foeniculum is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.9 m (3ft) by 0.4 m (1ft 4in). It is hardy to zone (UK) 8 and is not frost tender. It is in flower in July, and the seeds ripen in August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.The plant is self-fertile. It is noted for attracting wildlife.

Leaves and flowers - raw or cooked. They are used as a flavouring in raw or cooked dishes[108, 177, 257]. Excellent raw, they have a sweet aniseed flavour and are one of our favourite flavourings in salads[K]. They make a delicious addition to the salad bowl[183] and can also be used to flavour cooked foods, especially acid fruits[K].The only drawback to the leaves is that they tend to have a drying effect in the mouth and so cannot be eaten in quantity[K]. A pleasant tasting tea is made from the leaves[46, 61, 161, 183].

Medicinal Uses

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

The leaves are cardiac and diaphoretic[222, 238, 257]. An infusion of the leaves is used in the treatment of colds, fevers, weak heart etc[222]. When left to go cold, the infusion is used to treat pains in the chest (such as when the lungs are sore from too much coughing)[207]. A poultice of leaves and stems can be used to treat burns[257].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a sunny position and a dry well-drained soil[187, 200]. This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[200]. The young growth in spring is very susceptible to slug damage[K]. The flowering plants are very attractive to bees and butterflies[K]. There is at least one named variety. 'Texas American' has an anise-pennyroyal fragrance and is used in a similar way to the species[183].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. The seed usually germinates in 1 - 3 months at 13°c[133]. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first year. Plant out in late spring or early summer[K]. Division in spring. Fairly simple, if large divisions are used it is possible to plant them straight out into their permanent positions. Basal cuttings of young shoots in spring[111]. Harvest the young shoots when they are about 10 - 15cm tall and pot them up in a lightly shaded position in a greenhouse. They should root within 3 weeks and can be planted out in the summer or following spring.

[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[43]Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany.

A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46]Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants.

An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61]Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man.

Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183]Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.

Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[187]Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Perennials Volumes 1 and 2.

Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207]Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers.

A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[235]Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada

Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[238]Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses.

A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[257]Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany

Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers comment

Elizabeth H.

Matti Kaarlas

Mon May 22 2006

Is the Agastache foeniculum safe to use if one is pregnant? Any studies on this subject?

Elizabeth H.

Liesl T

Wed Nov 25 2009

Agastache foeniculum is a native to parts of northern Wisconsin. Consequently, it is probably hardy to at least Zone 4.

Elizabeth H.

Dave Walter

Mon Dec 28 2009

I'm curious as to why you describe anise hyssop as:
"This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country,
it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[200]".
Perhaps this is one of the "silly mistakes" you note for Ref 200:
1. This plant is fully hardy in my Zone 3 garden in Edmonton, Alberta.
2. It is considered a native species in Alberta and "The Flora of Alberta"
(2nd Ed, EH Moss) has a map showing its distribution in Zone 1-2 as well.
3. The USDA Plants Database shows this species extending across Canada
& into the Northwest Territories - most of this area gets well below -10.
4. The most authoritative text on herbs in Canada
(Small, E. Culinary Herbs NRC-CNRC Press)also cites Huxley (1992), but
also notes that A. foeniculum has survived temperatures below -25 C.
Anise hyssop freely self-seeds and flowers the first year here,
so it may be getting by as an annual in the more northern sites.
At least two plants have survived in the same spots in my garden
since 2006; however, so it is at least also capable of being a
short-lived perennial here. Cold tolerance may also vary by variety,
but I think you are giving anise hyssop short shrift on its cold tolerance.

Jonathan T.

Among other things, comments on the DG page show that Agastache foeniculum is much more cold hardy than suggested by this PFAF page. Included are comments from successful growers in USDA zone 4.

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant

Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Agastache foeniculum

Links

To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here

Name of Site

URL of Site

Details

All the information contained in these pages is Copyright (C) Plants For A Future, 1996-2012.
Plants For A Future is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Charity No. 1057719, Company No. 3204567,Web Design & Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Some information cannot be used for commercial reasons or be modified (but some can). Please view the copyright link for more information.